


Timely

by merelypassingtime



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fluff, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, all the flavors of fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-18 12:21:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29489709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merelypassingtime/pseuds/merelypassingtime
Summary: Against the rest of the team’s advice, Bucky agrees to share some pizza with Clint.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Clint Barton
Comments: 12
Kudos: 93





	Timely

**Author's Note:**

> All the thanks to oldguardhc and CruciatusForeplay for beta reading this and for just generally validating me and my lingering obsession with these two idiots.  
> Now you all know who to blame for all the new stories. ;)

Bucky noticed the second Clint entered the room.

Of course, Bucky noticed everything that happened around him as a rule, hypervigilance being what it was, but even his fucked-up mind seemed to have found a special, softer sort of attention for whenever the beautiful archer was in view.

He wanted to credit that to the man’s undeniable good looks, but, deep down, he knew it was Clint’s wide, goofy grin that was really to blame. The same grin the idiot was wearing right now as he slipped in from the side of the building through a window that Bucky was pretty sure wasn’t supposed to open.

Bucky kept his eyes on the book he had been reading, even as he cursed whichever god gave him an unfortunate fondness for reckless blondes.

From the corner of his eye, Bucky watched Clint cut across the room towards the elevator like a man on a mission, only to pause when he walked by the big cluster of furniture in the middle. Tony was there, sprawled out on one end of a huge couch doing something on a StarkPad while Steve sat on the other end sketching what Bucky knew was yet another picture of Tony, the mook. Natasha was sitting on the floor near them in what might have been deep meditation or might have been the spy version of a catnap.

Addressing the little group, Clint said, “Hey, guys! I was gonna run out and grab some pizza from that place on Seventh. Anybody wanna share with me?”

Glancing briefly up from his drawing, Steve answered, “Thanks Clint, but I’m good.”

Tony shook his head tersely and Natasha didn’t move at all.

“Aw, really?” Clint whined. “It’s great pizza, even if they won’t deliver here since The Incident.”

The capital letters on ‘The Incident’ were clear, and Bucky made a note to ask Jarvis about it later even as Clint received another chorus of no’s and non-answers. 

“No worries,” Clint said, though he looked a little disappointed. “More pizza for me, I guess.”

When Clint started towards the elevator again with less bounce in his step, Bucky surprised everyone including himself by calling out after him, “I could eat.”

“Really?” Clint asked even as Bucky thought to himself, _Really?_

It was true enough though, Bucky was always a little hungry and, after so many years of not being allowed to eat, he was never going to turn down another opportunity.

Besides, Clint was beaming at him like the idea of sharing his pizza with the man who’d assassinated JFK was the highlight of his day.

Bucky thought he might be blushing, and thinking he was only made his cheeks feel warmer. 

“Uh, yeah,” Bucky said eloquently. “Is pepperoni okay? Or, I dunno, green peppers and sausage?”

“Sure! I’ll eat anything if it’s on a pizza. I’m easy like that.” Tony snorted, but Clint ignored him. “The pizza place is only a couple blocks away, I’ll be right back.”

Still smiling, Clint finally reached the elevator, and as the doors closed behind him, he gave Bucky a little wave.

The second Clint was out of sight, Tony turned to where Bucky was sitting and said, “You should make yourself a sandwich or something.”

When Bucky gave him a suspicious look, Steve added, “No, he’s right, Buck. If you’re hungry, you should eat something now, not wait for Clint.”

“Why?” Bucky demanded. “Is the pizza he’s getting not any good? ‘cause I’m really not that fussy.”

“No, It’s great pizza,” Tony said. “The problem is Legolas there.”

Bucky must have bristled at that because, without even opening her eyes, Natasha said, “Calm down, James. Nothing against Clint, he just doesn’t have any concept of the passage of time.”

“And he has the attention span of a border collie,” Tony threw in.

Steve added, “And a preternatural talent for finding trouble.”

“Or being found by trouble,” Natasha muttered.

“So,” Bucky said, “you’re saying he’s gonna forget the pizza?”

Steve shook his head. “No, he’ll get the pizza. Eventually. It’ll just take him anywhere between four hours and two days to actually return with it.”

“He made it back in an hour and a half once,” Natasha corrected.

“Yeah,” Steve retorted, “because you texted him every ten minutes to keep him on task.”

“I was hungry.”

“Anyway,” Tony said, “the point is, if you eat a good meal right now, you’ll probably be getting hungry again around the time he gets back.”

“I think I’ve got some leftover Thai in the fridge you can have,” Steve offered.

Bucky thought about it for a few seconds. All the talk of food had pushed him over the edge from maybe hungry to definitely hungry, but he also remembered the way Clint had lit up when Bucky asked to share his dinner.

“No,” he said. “That’s okay, I’ll wait for the pizza.”

Tony shrugged. “Fine, it’s your funeral.”

“Wouldn’t be my first one,” Bucky replied dryly.

He was happy the resulting awkward silence let him go back to reading his book.

It was less than thirty minutes later when Bucky’s Clint-sense tingled again as the elevator opened.

Sure enough, Clint stepped out carrying a stack of pizza boxes. 

“Pizza!” he announced into the suddenly still room.

There was a moment of disbelieving silence, then Natasha said, “Interesting.”

“You’re back already?!” Tony demanded.

“Yeah?” Clint answered, sounding puzzled. “I had Jarvis call the order in for me so it was ready when I got there. And, look Bucky! I even got garlic knots!”

Ignoring the matching looks of shock on Steve and Tony’s faces and the speculative one on Natasha’s, Bucky closed his book with a decisive thunk and set it aside.

“Great, I’m starving,” he said with a small smile.

Clint’s answering grin was blinding.


End file.
